Lipsenthal is a profound explorer of our inner and outer world. Enjoy Every Sandwich will help you heal your fear of death and embrace the true joy of life's extraordinary journey." -Edgar Dean Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut As medical director of the famed Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Lee Lipsenthal helped thousands of patients struggling with disease to "Dr. I felt like, ‘I can’t be in this movie, I didn’t get my lines.’ That was very tough."Dr. He was giving me the guitar that he always used on the show. “As we’re talking, he’s taking his guitar strap and hooking it, wrapping it around, then he puts the guitar into the case and he flips the snaps on the case and says, ‘Here, I want you to have this, take good care of it.’ And I just started sobbing. Off the air, afterwards, Letterman went to see Zevon in his dressing room. If you’re a new Best Classic Bands reader, we’d be grateful if you would Like our Facebook page and/or bookmark our Home page.įive years after the Zevon farewell, Letterman recalled that night for Rolling Stone. It would turn out to be his final public performance but Zevon, who’d been given a few months to live, managed to buck the odds and survive for nearly another year, sticking around long enough to experience the birth of his twin grandsons. The version of “Roland…,” with Zevon backed by Shaffer and the program’s house band, is a stunner. Zevon avoided the new songs he’d only recently recorded for his final album, The Wind, which would be released just two weeks before his death. Zevon, born on January 24, 1947, also performed, of course, giving the host and audience three classics from his catalog: “Mutineer,” “Genius” and “Roland the Headless Gunner,” the last a personal request from Letterman. “How much you’re supposed to enjoy every sandwich,” he replied. “It’s one of those phobias that didn’t pay off.”Īnd, in a quip that has since been quoted countless times, Zevon responded succinctly and with humor to Letterman’s question about what his experience with cancer had taught him about life and death. “I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years,” Zevon said wryly. Zevon used his time to discuss his mesothelioma honestly, keeping the mood light but holding nothing back. But the 2002 appearance was something special: Zevon didn’t just drop by for a quick song and a chat instead, Letterman devoted the entire hour to his sole guest. In those 20 years, the two men had established a close friendship, with the classic rocker visiting the show on numerous occasions, even subbing for the program’s bandleader, Paul Shaffer, on occasion. The date was October 30, 2002, some two decades after Zevon had first performed for Letterman. He even discussed his illness openly on The Late Show With David Letterman, an appearance that was both heartbreaking and, thanks to the artist’s humility and grace, heartwarming. Months prior to his passing on September 7, 2003, from mesothelioma, a form of cancer that affects the linings of the lungs, the 56-year-old singer-songwriter had disclosed his situation publicly. Few outside of David Bowie’s inner circle, for example, even knew he had cancer until the day his death was announced. Many celebrities suffering from terminal illnesses choose, for personal reasons, to keep their diagnoses to themselves, preferring to live out their final days away from the glare of the media and even the sympathies of their own fans. Warren Zevon with David Letterman, Octo(Photo: Barbara Nitke/CBS)